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Letters to the Editor, Oct. 28, 2013

By Baker City Herald readers October 28, 2013 10:43 am

America can’t ignore the cost of Medicare

Gary Dielman loves Medicare and thinks that everyone should be enrolled in some similar program. But he leaves out some important information in his hymn of praise for that program — its long range prospects. They are not so rosy.

Medicare already spends more each year than it takes in. This will only get worse as more and more baby boomers retire. As things stand, Medicare will be bankrupt in about a decade. Worse yet, it has an unfunded future liability of $30 trillion. The program’s own officials say that Obamacare does nothing to correct this situation.

European countries are learning that the cornucopia of government goodies does have a bottom, and several of them already are getting awfully close to it. Greece is the poster child for out-of-control entitlements, and has narrowly escaped national bankruptcy only by being bailed out by other countries. We are on that same path, just not as far along as Greece.

We have already had a warning shot across our bows. For the first time in history, our bond rating has been downgraded from AAA to AA. The reason given? It’s the huge unfunded liabilities of our country’s entitlement programs. We will not be upgraded back to AAA until Medicare and our other entitlement programs are restructured and put on a more financially sound basis.

We must get that situation corrected as quickly as possible. Otherwise, our legacy to our children and grandchildren is going to be one of crippling debt.

Republican Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has submitted a plan to Congress which would do just that. Current retirees would continue under the present Medicare program, but future retirees would have the option to choose some other financially sound health care program. But Democrats are officially in a state of denial. They assert that Medicare has no long term problems, and they adamantly refuse to consider any significant changes to the program. They are content to continue kicking the can down the road, leaving future generations to clean up the mess they will left behind.